Girona face Albacete this Friday, September 25th, with a severely depleted squad. The Catalan side has seven players absent due to international call-ups, forcing the manager to make significant changes to his starting lineup.
The match will be played at the Estadi Montilivi at 18:30 UTC, corresponding to the seventh matchday of the Segunda División. Girona arrives after an important away win against Cádiz last week, a 1-2 result that keeps them in eighth place with 10 points from a possible 18. Their forward Yáser Asprilla, one of those called up, is the team's top scorer this season with four goals in six appearances. The team has worked this week with the goal of delivering 180 minutes of good football across the next two fixtures, starting with this clash. The full schedule of upcoming fixtures is available in our fixtures section.
Absences shape the lineup
The list of absentees is long. Due to international duty, Holmes Zamorano, Lass Kourouma, Oleksandr Pyshchur, Vladyslav Krapyvtsov, Vladyslav Vanat, and Yáser Asprilla will all be missing. They are expected to return to the club from October 4th onwards. To these names is added the injury absence of midfielder Bryan Gil, who has a back problem and is not due back before October 10th. Forward Jastin García is also injured.
This situation leaves the team without several key pieces of their usual setup. In the last match against Cádiz, the manager fielded a 4-4-2 with Gazzaniga; Boñar, David López, Zamorano, Álex Moreno; Asprilla, I. González, Fran Beltrán, Carles Pérez; van de Beek and Vanat. For the clash with Albacete, at least five forced changes to that formation are expected. The club has not commented on potential replacements, but the available squad must step up.
Albacete, meanwhile, arrives in a difficult situation. They sit 21st in the table after managing just one win in their first six games. Their last result was a 1-2 home defeat to Córdoba. Despite their poor run, Girona's manager has privately warned about the danger of a rival desperate for points. Following this match, Girona will visit Racing de Santander on October 2nd.
With three wins in their last five matches, Girona aims to cement their good form and close in on the promotion spots. The win at Cádiz, with goals from Vanat and Carles Pérez, showed their ability to compete away. Now, the challenge is to overcome the absences and win at Montilivi. The match against Albacete is the last before another international break, making three points the clear objective to end September on a high. The definitive lineup will be announced on Friday at 18:30 UTC.
